1216Hrs- Escapism

I threw myself into the build today with a solid eight hour shift. The weather has turned unseasonably warm and yesterdays day of rest was spent enjoying the gorgeous sunshine. Although more overcast today the temperature was up in the high teens with little wind and it was dry. Ideal working conditions really. I drove home from my girlfriends place this morning feeling a bit low, it was Monday morning and I should have been heading into a new week of paid employment instead of which I was heading into the unknown. The boat is my escape right now, whatever may happen over the next few months it seems logical to take advantage of the situation, for the next few weeks at least I can pretend that I’m just on holiday and free to put some hours onto the total. I have enough materials on site to keep me going for a while without spending any money. Over the next few days I’ll look at the finances and work out a timetable of actions I may need to take. I figure I can keep things together for a couple of months but after that, unless I start bringing in some cash, things will start falling apart pretty quickly. The maths are pretty easy really, I have no assets except a part built Tiki 38 and some bits and pieces I can e-bay but on the plus side, no debts either, if I really tighten up the budget I must surely be able to scrape enough together for the rent and bills. I’m even wondering if I can tarp over one of the hulls and move on board, only kidding? Escapism is OK but I can’t bury my head in the sand, tomorrow I start firing off some e-mails, making some calls and getting my CV out. Anyone know of any vacancies for a technical/sales guy in contract floor coverings with some boat building experience?

Anyway I made some good progress on the boat today, I finished trimming the upper hullsides and then had a big clean up. The inside of the hulls were deep in dust and shavings so they got a thorough brush and vac out. Then I did the same for the barn floor. I vacuumed out all the redundant screwholes and spent several hours mixing and filling with epoxy. I estimate I must have filled somewhere in the region of three thousand holes today. Matti asked me in his comment on yesterdays blog how heavy I thought the hulls were now. I don’t know the answer but I can make an educated guess. JWD say that the total unloaded weight of a Tiki 38 is 3000kg. I reckon that’s 1000kg per hull and another 1000 for the beams, decking, pod and rig. I still have a lot of epoxy filleting, internal furniture and decks to add to the hulls so I reckon they are about 500-600kg now. If I put my shoulder to the hulls I can shift them slightly on the cradles and I’m no hulk.